


references: werewolves III

by quodpersortem



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Werewolf, Werewolves, cheat sheet, fic references, fic research, references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-15
Updated: 2012-08-15
Packaged: 2017-11-12 05:24:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/487174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quodpersortem/pseuds/quodpersortem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I don’t really have to explain a lot. This might, however, be one of the most difficult topics to cover on werewolves because there are just <i>so many</i> different kinds of them. Plus, of course, how Teen Wolf chooses to portray their werewolves isn’t very common when you compare them to most other werewolves, and to the mental image people have of werewolves.</p><p>Alas, I have tried and I hope this list will be helpful for you no matter what! For the <i>human form</i> section I decided to describe which traits I see back in TW’s werewolves, and which are completely out of their league.</p><p><b>Other resources:</b> <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/484229">general</a> | <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/484555">films & books </a>| <b>physique</b> | <s>allies & enemies | behaviour</s> [unavailable; to be added soon]</p>
    </blockquote>





	references: werewolves III

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t really have to explain a lot. This might, however, be one of the most difficult topics to cover on werewolves because there are just _so many_ different kinds of them. Plus, of course, how Teen Wolf chooses to portray their werewolves isn’t very common when you compare them to most other werewolves, and to the mental image people have of werewolves.
> 
> Alas, I have tried and I hope this list will be helpful for you no matter what! For the _human form_ section I decided to describe which traits I see back in TW’s werewolves, and which are completely out of their league.
> 
>  **Other resources:** [general](http://archiveofourown.org/works/484229) | [films & books ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/484555)| **physique** | ~~allies & enemies | behaviour~~ [unavailable; to be added soon]

# Werewolf Physique

Physical traits are obviously something fandom writers focus on, especially when they write intimate scenes. Now, I have put together a list of physical traits a werewolf has in human form (I will add whether this seems to be one of the traits they have in Teen Wolf or not), and I have also put together a small database of which different kinds of werewolves there are after transformation (which basically ranges from the Wolverine-like human the characters in Teen Wolf take on to a large black dog).

## Human form

 **Eyebrows:**  
Most werewolves have thick/bushy eyebrows. It’s also not uncommon for them to have proper monobrows—though it would be logical to assume that a fair amount of werewolves, certainly the females, would pluck their eyebrows back into shape. When a werewolf does not tame his wild eyebrow hairs, he usually has a kind of grim appearance as a human as well.

In Teen Wolf, Derek does appear to have fairly thick eyebrows, but none of the others really do. Not exceptionally so anyway. And I have yet to spot someone on Teen Wolf sporting the monobrow! Also for the sake of aesthetics I am ignoring how Derek goes brow-bald when he turns wolf because what the fuck is that about anyway.

 

 **Ears:**  
In human form, the ears of a were-person might be placed slightly lower on the head than those of a normal human. This makes the transition from human to wolf easier. Some werewolves have (slightly) pointy ears, even as human. There are also werewolves who are able to move their ears in the direction suspicious sounds are coming from—my guess is that the ability to move ears is far less common among the “werekind” than normal people. If you want to know some more information about this, scroll down the page to _Special Abilities_.

The ears obviously haven’t been altered in Teen Wolf in the sense that they're anatomically correct when Derek and his pack are showing up as human. ~~And it’d be hard to imagine _any_ of TW’s werewolves as “imperfect” (using that word for the sake of it, ok?).~~ Obviously, when they turn to wolves their ears _do_ get pointed. 

 

**Body hair:**

A (normal) werewolf has a lot of body hair. Think, hm, [Eion Bailey](http://mynewplaidpants.blogspot.nl/2012/01/adam-scott-eion-bailey-totally-making.html). I’m sure there are people who are hairier, but he’s the first one who comes to mind (w/o suffering from [ Hypertrichosis ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertrichosis), a disease that causes abnormal hair growth all over the body—and surprise! It is also referred to as the werewolf syndrome). 

Werewolves also are said to have hair growing in the palms of their hands (check it out, you most definitely don’t). It’s not the safest way to determine whether someone is a werewolf or not—myths have also described vampires to have hair in this usually bald place.

Again, this is one of the traits that does _not_ cross over to Teen Wolf. I have been informed that Jeff Davis did this on purpose to make the guys more attractive to teenage girls, which isn't entirely surprising. I know boys with hair growing from their backs, and just, yeah. Big no-no. ~~I personally wouldn't mind some chest hair, though. Apparently Tyler Hoechlin has some--I've seen another interview where Tyler Posey actually points or rubs at it or... I don't really know what was going on. ETA: oh hai[see he has chest hair!](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m955yumEAv1qgannvo1_500.jpg)~~ But oh yeah! Happy trails! They do still have those! *blissful feelings*

 

 **Skin:**  
Werewolves aren’t big fans of sunlight so they tend to steer clear from it—leaving them paler than your average human specimen. Vampires and people with a naturally light skin share this trait though, so it’s not that much of a biggie.

Still, I guess it explains why Derek always looks so pale?

 

 **Eyes:**  
The werewolf’s eyes are usually placed rather deep in their sockets as a human. This is a protection from bright sunlight, which might harm their sensitive eyes (we have all seen Scott and Derek squint at bright lights, yes?). 

In Teen Wolf we also see they reflect light the way a wolf’s (or cat’s) would. They also occasionally glint red/yellow/blue when they get angry, even without wolfing out. I would’ve said blue was for people born as beta but I’ll have to let this headcanon go as Jackson’s eyes are blue. Isaac’s got naturally blue eyes as well, but his do turn yellow so that’s not an option either.

 

 **Mouth:**  
First of all, I want to discuss their teeth. My source tells me that a werewolf tends to have slightly longer and pointier incisors even in their human shape, which they’ll try to hide.

They also tend to have a very dry mouth. No explanation is given for this, but it does lead them to drink more than your average human person. 

The longer teeth canonical in Teen Wolf, though when they get a little aggravated their teeth and fangs grow and their eyes change colour, without them actually wolfing out. Not much of the dry mouths is shown in canon either, but it might as well _have_ been canon.

 

 **Hands:**  
Werewolves who change into proper wolves have larger hands than average. This, again, is to make the transition easier. Still, I think it’s quite difficult to tell when someone’s hands are larger than is normal or not.

Their middle finger and index finger have the same length. A werewolf who doesn’t take great care of his nails might have fairly long, crooked and reddish nails.

Like I said, it’s difficult to judge whether a werewolf has larger hands than normal. Considering that in canon, all of the werewolves are played by humans, this seems a little odd though and it obviously isn’t depicted in Teen Wolf. The same goes for the index vs middle finger. Their nails all seem to be neatly cropped so I wouldn’t put my bets on that ever becoming canon either. In TW they simply bring out their claws.

 

 **Overall appearance:**  
History-wise, anyone who looked ~~a little~~ different from anyone else, was thought to be a werewolf. In countries where people had a dark skin and dark hair, this meant the people who were fair-haired and skinned. In the countries where people were pale and had blond hair, the people with dark skin and hair were the targets. In almost any country, unable people were thought to be “creatures of the night”, so to speak, and often thought to connect to negative powers.

Obviously, in Teen Wolf language this means “all werewolves are super fucking hot”.

 

Clear differences per countries

Okay, so obviously the entire list I have mentioned before differs per myth, film and TV series. This is a short list of countries where it’s quite easy to recognize a werewolf.

[ _Portugal_ ] Here, the _lobis-homem_ has a crooked middle finger and wolfish eyes. (Considering they’re basically puppies that are afraid of the light, Derek would be able to stare them down without his eyes even changing color. Hell, _Scott_ would be able to do so.)

[ _Japan_ ] Japan’s own werewolf, a werefox, keeps its tail even as a human. On top of that will the reflection they see in a mirror always be a fox.

[ _India_ ] All people with red hair are suspects here.

## Werewolf form

From all the things I have read/seen so far, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are basically three subtypes of werewolves, with a lot of variation between them.

a) There is the werewolf who actually changes into a proper wolf. This happens in several films—including (dare I say this?) Twilight. Derek’s sister Laura also appears to have (had) a fully wolf form. Some stories tell that this wolf keeps the hair color the person has as a human (think of the muttations of the contestants at the end of the Hunger Games—I suppose you could count them as a kind of werewolf as well!). This varies per tale however. I mean, other stories claim that someone who is a werewolf actually changes into a large and always black dog.

b) The second sub-type of werewolf would be the unnaturally large creature that does usually more or less resemble a wolf but clearly _isn’t_ one. I personally think that the werewolves in _An American Werewolf in London_ are a great depiction of this, as well as a lot of werewolves in art. I also think this is what a lot of people _imagine_ when they think of a werewolf. Plus, if hard-pressed, I would put Peter in this category as well (obviously I am talking about his Alpha form here). They are usually able to walk on their hind legs.

_Werewolf, art by ?_

_An American Werewolf in London (1981), during transformation_

c) The werewolves that actually stay mostly-human. They are still recognizable as the person they used to be, but they do always have fangs, pointy ears and claws. Sometimes they turn extra-hairy as well, though not any given case (even in Teen Wolf it depends—I haven’t seen Boyd or Erica sporting massive sideburns yet!). From what I’ve seen, this type of wolf seems to have more control over his actions, though I guess that does depend a little on all sorts of different factors (such as, which story are we talking about). Apart from Teen Wolf, one of the most famous werewolf films that features this kind of werewolf would be _the Wolf Man_ (though only the 1941 version—the werewolf in the 2010 version would sooner fit into subcategory b). 

_The Wolf Man, 1941_

_Teen Wolf, 1985_

Teen Wolf

As you have noticed, the wolves in Teen Wolf tend to assume different forms. Jeff Davis has said that **Alphas are more in tune with traditional, bestial form of wolf**. It is also true that in Teen Wolf, only Alphas will change into subtype a (the full wolf) or b (the bestial bipedal). Betas and Omegas can only change into the form we get to see them change into. I suppose that, since they wolf out in various degrees, the level of aggravation and the moon also play a huge part in this--aka whether they are still in control of things or whether they wolf out completely.

Two reasons have been given for Derek _not_ changing shape entirely like his sister or his uncle. In meta, this is that the character remains human in the spectator's eyes. In the Teen Wolf universe, it's that Derek has unresolved issues that prevent him from changing completely.

  


# Special abilities

So, of course being a werewolf does have its perks as well, as Scott and Isaac found during lacrosse practice. Down below is a list of the traits they get, mostly as both a human and werewolf though it seems to me that every single sense will be enhanced if the person is in their wolf form. There are, however, also a couple of downsides.

  


Upsides

Werewolves are **stronger** than an average human. This counts when they are in their human form but certainly when they are in their wolf forms (adrenalin, the full moon, who knows?).

They are also **faster**. They can run faster and generally are in a better shape as well (what else would you expect of a madman running in the woods?).

Simply being faster, physically, isn’t everything. Their **reflexes** are a lot better as well. This obviously accounts for most of Scott and Isaac’s improvement in lacrosse (I’m secretly hoping Jackson won’t be much better). 

Any werewolf’s **smell** is enhanced. My assumption here is that this sense only gets better when they are in their wolf modus, a) because they are more focused and b) (certainly if they are (almost) actual wolves rather than some Wolverine) they have a wolf’s nose. I did some research and found that a wolf smells about a hundred times better than a human. This means that, if you assume a werewolf is half-human half-wolf, he smells about 50x better than your all-average human. Maybe, in wolf form, that would be upped to 100x. It’s all up to you, really. 

In Teen Wolf, the werewolves can also **scent emotions**. We got a couple of examples, such as Scott telling Stiles that he can smell arousal. I suppose that wouldn't just be emotion but also a physical reaction though. I'll go through the eps when I have time to find more examples, because I am fairly sure their are (dogs, for example, can smell fear--but for a werewolf it would probably be the combined senses of smell and hearing). 

A werewolf can **hear** better than a human does as well. However, as his ears cannot ever be as flexible as a wolf’s, he will have to turn his head to the direction the sound came from (we see this happen in Teen Wolf several times). It also makes it more difficult for a werewolf to precisely tell where the sound came from. Even in their wolf-shape, the werewolves on Teen Wolf would have this problem! 

In Teen Wolf, they also have **super healing powers**. This, however, isn’t common in most werewolf stories! In fact, one of the methods that is advised to use to find out if someone is a werewolf, is to hurt this person in his wolf form and look out for whoever has an injury in the place you hurt the wolf the next day. It’s also mentioned that a lot of werewolves have a lot of scratches across their bodies from walking around in the forests’ undergrowth. 

Teen Wolf's wereguys and girls can also **transfer memories** by clawing a victim at the back of their neck. We have seen Peter do this to Scott, and Derek has done it to Jackson. I actually think something more or less similar might have happened when Peter gave Lydia the bite--she did not get visions until after this happened. So yeah, to **manipulate someone's perception** is probably another one of their abilities, even though they're meant to be dead. There is no real information given as to how either of this works, etc. but my best guess would be that the werewolf forges a bond between himself and the recipient of the wounds, much like they do when they actually turn something (maybe Peter even knew Lydia would be immune to the bite somehow--to me it seems that he knew all along he'd be influencing her behaviour). I haven't seen this in any other stories or films, so it's probably a plot device especially created for Teen Wolf. Still, I don't think it's all that far-fetched. 

One of the most recent abilities we have learnt about in Teen Wolf, is the werewolves' ability to **absorb pain**. Isaac does this when Deaton and Scott show him an ill dog, but it is safe to assume this would work on human beings in pain as well. It isn't said if it only works when someone has an illness such as cancer, or if it also works when someone is wounded. For now, as this has neither been confirmed or denied, feel free to go with either. For the record, animals taking away their owner's pain [isn't unheard of](http://paranormal.about.com/od/psychicphenomena/a/Telepathy-With-Animals.htm)! 

Last but not least, the werewolf does have **night vision**. It means they still see everything quite poorly, but at least they can see in the dark. And that’s quite cool, isn’t it? ~~When you’re going to your den in the forest by foot because you’re too drunk to drive or whatever.~~

  


Downsides

Even though night vision is nice, a wolf’s _actual_ **vision** isn’t all that good. If the eyes of the werewolf _are_ shaped like a wolf’s, this would in fact mean they’d be slightly myopic or near-sighted. So basically, go by normal human vision when the werewolf has assumed his human form. 

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, that’s it for now! I’ll probably add more pictures to the database sometime, and maybe some extra stuff to the list of a werewolf in his human form as well. Let me know if you’ve got anything to add as well! More information is _always_ welcome :)
> 
> [ShadowKnight](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowKnight/pseuds/ShadowKnight) mentioned some of the special ability Teen Wolf's werewolves have that I forgot to list earlier. (S)he also provided some information on the shapes the werewolves take on, e.g. the full-wolf form, the beast or the mostly-human shape.


End file.
